Railway-train-control system



Oct 25 19?.

E. CLARK E AL RAILWAY TRAIN CONTROL SYSTEM Filed May 9, 1925 3Sheets-Sheet l INV ENTOR. M

- ZTTORNEY.

Oct. 25,, 1M

11'. E. CLARK ET AL RAILWAY TRAIN CONTROL SYSTEM Filed May 9. 1925 sSheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

' 0a. 25, 192? LMMM T. E. CLARK ET AL RAILWAY TRAIN CONTROL SYSTEM ATTZRNE Y.

Fatented Get. 25, lQZ'Y.

FFHQE.

THOMAS E. CLARK AND E'AMES E. CLARK, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNORS TOCONTINUOUS TRAIN CONTEOL CORPOIMEION, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A COR-IOBA'IION OF MICHIGAN.

BAILWVAY-TRAIN -OO1\TTROL SYSTEM.

Application filed May 9, 1925. Serial Ho. 29,054.

This invention relates to the control of railway trains by means of ahigh-frequency current propagated in or imposed on railway tracks bytrain controlled instrumentalities positioned along the trackwaycoacting with brake controlling instrumentalities on the locomotives orother controlled vehicles, and embodying current collecting deviceswhereby the. control current produced by, induction may be picked up,and its object is to provide a system of this character whereby acontrolcurrent will be transmitted to the train when a section of track'inadvance of a train is occupied, and also, whenever the currentpropagating meansat the next train-control station in advance isinoperative.

It further relates to means for. visibly indicating to a following trainthe occupancy of the iirst or second track section in advance, andembodies, means for causing the operation or that signal which indicatesthe occupancy oi"? the track between it and the next station inadvance,.whenever the Sta tion in advance becomes inoperative.

In railway signal and control devices of the character hereinafterdescribed, which embody a group of lamps of different colors at eachcontrol station, means are provided whereby current flows to these lampsonly when a train approaches the lamp stand or support and the currentis interrupted when the train has passed the lamp stand. In the presentconstruction, certain of the lamp circuitsare made use of to determinethe operation of a transformer for propagating high-frequencycontrolcurrent in the track rails of the section in which the train is running,and proper means responsive to electric currentare provided whereby eachsignal and transforming station influences the next station in the rear,so that, should either the signal or control mechanism tail to operate,the sigi'ial mechanism and the control mechanism will be positioned inthe same manner as they would it the track be tween such stations. wereoccupied.

When a section ottrack receives this co11- trol current andatrackvehicle moves along this section toward the exit end where thetransformer is connected to the rails and is transmitting high-frequencycurrent there to, a zone 'or field of induced current travels just infront ofthe leading axle or the vehicle, which field becomes stronger asthe vehicle approaches the connections with the transmitter. Properreceiving mechanism for this induced current is mounted on thelocomotive and a relief valve controlling the brakes is normally heldclosed by an electromagnetic device energized by a current source on thevehicle, the circuit between them being kept closed by devices which maybe controlled by the current picked up from the rails so that when thiscurrent is picked up, the circuit to the valve-controlling mechanism isopened, which will result in the brakes being set.

A forestalling key is provided to close another circuit between thecurrent source and the electro-magnetic device controlling the reliefvalve so that the application oi the brakes'may be avoided.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a diagram of the circuits andinstrumentalities embodying the present invention. Fig. 2 is a diagramof the transformer. Figs. 3 and are views, partly diagrammatic andpartly sectional, of the instrumentalities to be mounted on thelocomotive.

Similar reference characters reter to like parts throughout the severalviews.

The track for which the present invention is designed is divided intoblocks or sections each provided at its exit end with a signal andcontrol station. The direction of traftie in Fig. 1 is supposed to befrom right to left, and each signal and control station is controlled bya train, if any, occupying its block and by the station next in advance.A signal stand at each station near the insulation joint betweenadjacent blocks, is provided with the usual green, yellow and red lampswhich receive currentonly when the block immediately in the rear isoccupied so that there is no unnecessary loss of current. .Vihen suchblock is occupied, a red light becomes visible at its exit end when thenext block in advance is occupied, a yellow light when the second blockin advance is occu pied, and a green light when neither is occupied. Theinstallations may be said to be in clear, caution and danger posi tionswhen the circuits are closed to the green, yellow and red lamps,respectively.

In F 1, the rails are lettered 1 and 2, the insulations dividing theminto blocks are lettered 3 and the lamp stands by at. The

wires 5 and (5 connect the track relay 7 to the rails'and current forthe relay is conducted to the rails by the wires 8 and 9 from the trackbattery 10, a resistance 11 being employed to prevent damage to thebattery when a car axle on the rails short circuits this track relay.The relay 7, while energized, holds up its arinatures a, Z) and 1 andthereby holds open the common circuit to the signal lamps and thecircuits to the train control mechanism. But when this relay 7de-energizei'l by reason of its block or track section being occupied,its arinatur s will close these circuits so that one of the lamps andthe train control mechanism will function.

Each signal installation is controlled by the signal installation nextin advance to the effect that it an installation is in danger position,the installation next in the rear will assume caution position and causethe second station in the rear to assume clear position. ,Noinstallation has any ell'ect on the stations in advance.

The sections and their installations are lettered. A, B and C in Fig. 1,and these lettors are occasionally associated with the numeralsdesignating parts. Each section has a storage battery 13 or othercurrent source and the circuits thereto are controlled in part by apolar neutral relay 14: whose winding is connected to the installationnext in advance by wires 15 and 16. Current flows to this relay 1 1 fromthe station in advance over wire 15 and back over wire 16 when clearconditions are to control, and

flows in the opp site direction when cantion conditions are to control,while no current flows over these wires when danger coinlitions control.The relay 1 1 has neutral arniatures-i a, b, c, and (Z, and polararmatures c and j" which retain their positions until positively niovedtherefrom. For convenience it will be assumed that positive currentllows to relay 1 1 01 a station over wire 15 when the installation is tobe at clear, and that this causes the arrnatures c and f to swingclockwise, while negative current iiows over this wire 15 when theinstallation is to be at caution, and these arimrturef-i swingcounterclockwise.

The relays 11 and the circuits between the stations therefore controlthe signals. Stare ing with block 13, where no current is received byrelay 1113, current flows from the battery 1315 over wires 17 and 18,dropped armature 1%, wires 2-1 and 1613 to relay 14C, and wire 15B,armature 25" of station 13, wire 26, armature 7, wire 27, armature 1-1and wires 28 and 22 to the battery.

Relay 11C is negatively energized, and ii block C were not occupied,current would flow from battery 13C over wire 17, arinatur'e 14 wire27', armature 7". wire 26', annatu-re 25 and wire 15C to relay 1% ofstation 1) (not shown) and back over wires 16C and 2 1, armature 14 andwires 28 and 22 to battery 13C. The result would be a positivelyenergized relay 1 1 at station D. The control oi relay 25 will beexplained later on.

Section A was clear until a train (not shown.) now occupying it passedsignal station B, so that the polar armatures e and f of relay 1 1 ofthis station are still in the position they assumed when positivecurrent came to this relay 1 1 over wire 15A. But when the train enteredthis block A, its relay 7 was short cireuited and no current flows overwire 15A.

As there is no train in block B, there is no current flowing to the lampstand at the exit end of block B, but if there were, relay 7 of block Bwould be (ls-energized and current would flow from the battery 1313 overwires 17 and 18, armature 14 and wire 19 to red lainp R and wire 20,armature 7 and wires 21 and 22 to the battery. It for any reasontherefore, no current flows to a sta tion over wire 15A, :1 red lainpwill indicate this fact to the train approaching that station in block13. 7

Station G next in the rear also has a relay 1-1 to which the wires 15Band 16B "extend ftOlH station B. Current flows from the battery 131)over wires 17 and 1S, armature 1%", wires 24 and 1613 to relay 14 ofstation C and then over wire 15B, armature b of relay wire 26, armature7, wire 27, armature 1 t and wires 28 and 22'to the battery.

Considering the current in wire 1513 as a negative current to relay MC,the polar armatures 1-1" and 1-1 swing counter-clockwise and currentwill flow from the battery of station C over wires 17 and 18, arn'iature-lat", wire 30, armature" 1'1 and wire 31 to lamp Y, and thence overwire 20, armature 7 and wires 21 and: 22 back to the battery.

It block C were not occupied by train T and relay 7 otstation (l wereenergized, curtent r xould flow from the battery 13G over wire 17,armature 14 wire 27, armature 7 wire 26, armature 25* and wire 15C torelay 1 11) (not shown), causing its-'a-rinatures e and f to swingclockwise. Current. at station I) would then flew from the battery overwires 17 and 1-8, armature 1 1 wire 30, armature 1-1" and wire 33 to thegreen lamp on the stand 1. It therefore, ablock is occupied, and a trainapproaches from a disstanee, a green light will show at the exit end ofthe third block in the rear, a yellow light at the exit end' ofthe'second block in the rear, and a red light at the exit end of thenext block in the rear, as each of these blocks 15 occupied in turn. Butshould one of these signal installations fail to function and no currentflow to the next station in the r ar, a red light will immediately showat that point and the sequence of lights toward the rear willbe the sameas just stated.

A high-frequency current of a predetermined wave-length is propagated inthe section at whose exit end a red lamp receives current,'and also inthe section at whose exit end a yellow lamp receives current, and thelen 'th of track which carriesa suliicient amount of this current toaffect instrumentalities on the locomotive will depend upon thecharacter of the current impressed upon the rails. The turns-forming andtransmitting device is diagrannnatically shown in Fig. 2 and describedlater on, and is indi cated by the circle 34 in Fig. 1, current beingconducted to this transmitting device only when either of the two blocksin advance is occupied, that is, when negative current or no currentpasses to relay 14, and occurs only when the block belonging to thattransformer is occupied, and therefore when no current passes to relay7.

When a red light is visible at the exit end of an occupied block.battery current passes from the battery 0]": the station adjacent saidexit end over wire 17, armature 14", wire 35, armature"? and wire 36 tothe transformer, and wires 37, 21 and 22 to the battery. Thehigh-frequency current passes to-the rail 1 over wires 38 and 5, and tothe rail 2 over wire 39, condenser 40, wire ll, relay 6L2 and wiresdSand 6.,The condenser 4-0 prevents the passage of the track current fromthe battery at the other end ofthe block through the relay l2 and thetransformer.

The relays 7- do not respond to'the high-tre quency current from thetransformers 34.

'l-lelay 4-2 responds to this current from the transformer Eat andattracts its armature a which closes the circuit to the relay 25, overwires 17 andlS, dropped armature 14 wires 2 and 1.6 to relay 25, wire45, armatare wires lii 'and-2T,droppcd armature 14c, and wires 28 and22; Relay'25 has a heavy core and so is energized and de-energizedslowly. Relay 25-being energizechattracts its armatures a and Z). Assoon as the train leaves block C, relay 7C becomes enere gized. closinga'second circuit from the bat tery 13C OV1:WlleS 17 ElHl 18, droppedarmature lt, wires 2st and 16 to relay 25, wire 45, armature 25, wire26,. armature 7", wire 27 dronned armature 14: and wires 28 and a l i 22to the battery.

ll lien a yellow light is visible at the exit end o't'an occupied blockC. as indicated at the right in Fig. 1, block B being unoccupied,battery current passes from battery 13C over wires 17 and 18, rmature Hwires 44 and 35, armature 7 (dropped) and wire 36 to the transformer,and wires 37, 21 and 22to the battery. The current from the transformerpasses to the rails as before described. Block 0 being occupied; andnegative current passing torelay 14C, as before.expla'inecbcausing'armatures lat and le to assume counter-clockwisepositions, currentwill flow from the battery 136 over wires 17 and 18,armature 1r, wire 44 to wire 35, armature 7 and wire 36 to thetransformer and 'back over wires 37, 21 and 22 to the battery. Thetransformer being energized, high-frequency current-passes to the rails.

lVhen positive current flows over the wire to a relay l t to cause thearmatures 1& and 14? to swing clockwise, and the block approaching thestation is occupied, current will pass over the wire to the green lamp,but the circuits to the transmitter will be open at armature 14, and nocontrol current will pass to the rails.

The advantage of this arrangement is that while a block is unoccupiedand relay 7 is energized, current flows to the relay of the installationof that block over arn'iature 7F and relay 14 of the next installationin the rear will be energized either positively or negatively. Then whenthe block between these installations is occupied and relay 7 isClo-energized, the circuit comprising armature 7 is broken but thecircuit to the transformer 3th is closed. If now this transformerfunctions properly and relay 4-2 is energized, the second circuit torelay 25 is closed so that current will again flow to relay 14. of theblock to the rear. But should the transformer fail to function, then thesecond circuit to the relay 25 will not be closed and no current willflow to relay 1% of the next installation in the rear and a red lightwill show whenever the block in the rear is occupied. The short time between the energizations of relay i2 is not sufficient for the slow relay25' to lose its magnetism so its armatures will remain attracted duringthis interval.

The transformer is more fully illustrated inFig. 2. A dynamometer 51receives direct battery current over the wires 36 and 37, and 53 anddelivers direct current of from 300 to 500 volts over the wires 54 and55. The filament 56 of the electron tube 57 connects to the wire 87 bymeans of an adjustable resistance 58 and connects to the wire 36 bymeans of the wire 59. The wire connects to the plate coil 60 and to thetuning condenser 61, the Wires 6% and connecting this condenser and coil00 to the plate 66. The wire 54 connects to the grid coil 67, and thatconuects'to the grid condenser 68 and grid leak (39 by means of the wire70. A wire 72 connects this condenser 68 and grid leak 69 of the tube57. An out put coil 74: connects to the wires 38 and 39, which, in turn,connect to the rails as above described, the condenser 40 preventing thetrack relay being short-circuited by this output coil. Thecurrentdelivered to the rails may beef any desired wave-length, waves offrom'1500 to 6000 meters in length being feasible. No claim is madeofinvention in the details of this transformer and transmitlib? ter andany other desired means for accomplishing the same results may beemployed.

It the vehicle had but a single axle which passed into a clear block atwhose exit end a green light showed, the generator of the station oilthat block would not deliver current to the track rails and thereforethe relay 25 would be de-energized so that no current could pass overthe wire 15 leading from that station to the next station in the rear,and would remain that way. But railway vehicles have more than one axleso that two adjacent stations are occupied as the leading axle leavesthe clear block which results in the circuit to relay 1.4; of the clearblock being opened by relay 7 of the block in advance and a red lightshowing in place of the green light and in the generator 3 1 operatingduring the time the vehicle or trains moves out of that clear block.This gives current to relay 12 and causes relay to pick, up. itsarmatures.

The. locomotioe installation.

Mounted on the locomotive at an oblique ai'igle to the rail just infrontof the leading axle where the induced field is the strongest is acollector coil which connects to a thermo-junction heater currentconverter 101 by means of the wires 102 and 103, an adjustable condenser101 being connected into this circuit for tuning it to resonance withthe train control current propagated in the track rails.

Arelay 105 connects to the converter by means of wires 100 and 107 andits armatiu'c a is normally in engagement with its back contact to closethe circuit to the relay 108 which is from the battery 109 over the wire110 to the relay 108 and thence over wires 112 and 113, armature 108,wire 1131-, armature 105 and wires 115 and 1113 back to the battery. Asolenoid 117 controls the operation of the brakes, and while energizedholds the valve 118 on its seat to prevent flow of air from the pipe 119connecting to the main air reservoir of the brake system, and thecircuit tor this solenoid is from the wire 110 over armature 108 andwire 120 on one side and wires 122 and 116 on the other, so that thissolenoid remainsenergized so long as the circuit to the relay 108remains closed. But when the collector coil 100 picks up the propercurrent from the rails and causes the relay 105 to pick up its armature,the circuits to both the relay 10S and solenoid 117 will le opened andremain so until both of the l'mrestailing keys 122 and 123 aredepressed, one ot these being mounted adjacent the engineers and theother adjacent the liremans station. The depression of both keyssimultaneously will close an auxiliary circuit between the battery andthe relay 108. An ac cidental closing of one key at the time the coil100 is receiving current will therefore fall to bridge the two wires 111 and 115,

after which the closing of both torestalling keys will again cause therelay 108 to pick up its armatures and complete the circuits to itselfand the solenoid117. These keys must be held depressed during the entiretime the loop 100 receives current in order to prevent the applicationof the brakes,

The brakcs are caused to be applied by'the reduction of the air in thetrain pipe or line and so long as the solenoid 117 is energized, nointerference with the control of the brakes by the train valve 131occurs. Air normally flows from this train pipe through the branch tothe control valve 133 and to the storage ank 13 1 through the pipe 135.This tank serves to reduce the speed of application of the brakes, forthe openings through which the air of the train pipe escapes may be madelarger when a storage tank o'l 'this charapter is employed.

When the solenoid 117 is tie-energized and the valve 118 moves down toclose the vent passage 136, air flows through the valve body 1217 andpipe 138 to the whistle 139 and to the check-valve body 140, lifting thevalve 1 12 and passing through pipes 1 13, 1 14: and 1415 to the controlcylinders 146 and 14.7 and to the storage tank 148, which merelyaccumulates air and permits of delayed movements of the pistons 14,9 and150.

The piston 149 moves the valve 152 to close the normal passage betweenthe train pipe 130 and the train valve 131 so that the engineer cannotsupply air to the train pipe to prevent the setting of the brakes. Buthe can set his valve to exhaust the train line pipe. The check valve 153will permit this upward flow of air.

Vhen the piston is forced to the posi-' tion shown in Fig. 4, itconnects the small passage 15 1 (which is controlled by the needle valve155 and is connected to the outside air by the vent 156) to the spaceabove the piston 157. lVhen the parts are as shown in Fig. 3, the airpressure on both sides of this piston 157 is the same, and the passage154-. out 01f from the space abovepipe through the restricted vent 160,which results in setting the brakes. This flow will,

ill

be slow because of. the tank 134; which holds air at the same initialpressure and which must also escape through the vent 156..

All this time the whistle 139 is sounding and if the engineer andfiremanare both alert, each can operate his forestalling key to causethe electro-magnetic valve to close.

But unless the forestalling keys are de pressed, air will continue toescape from the train pipe and result in the brakes being applied.

;WVl1en the control keys are depressed and the solenoid 117 energized tostop the flow of air from the pipe 119, the engineer may open his trainvalve 131 to permit full pressure air to flow into the train pipe whichwill result in the valve 152 and piston 1 19 being pushed back to normalposition, which is rendered possible by the escape of the air in thepipes 143, 1 14; and M5, cylinders 146 and 14:? and tank 148 through thewhistle 139 and vent 136, the valve 142 being so formed as to permit aslow flow of air to the pipe 138. The new pressure in the train pipe 180and its branch 132 also forces the Valve 158 and piston 150 back to theposition shown in Fig. 3. r

Whenever therefore, the collector coil 100 passes along a properlyenergized Zone where it picks up current of the proper wave length, therelay 105 will cause the valve 108 to admit high pressure air to thecylinders 146 and 147, which results in the applica-. tion of the brakesunless forestalled by the proper use of the keys 122 and 123 whichshould be so placed that they cannot be operated by one man.

The details of construction and the arrangements and positions of thevarious parts may all be changed by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit of our invention as set forth in the followingclaims.

We claim:

1. In a railway train control system comprising signal inechanism alongthe trackway for visibly indicating three dili'erent speed conditions,means for propagating or imposing high frequency current upon the railat the points where the minimum speed condition signal is visible, meansfor causing such imposing of said high-frequency current when anadjacent signal mechanism becomes inoperative, and means on a vehicle onthe track andextending adjacent the trackway and tuned to respond to thewave length of said imposed current to affect instrumentalities on saidvehicle.

2. In a railway train control system comprising signal mechanism alongthe trackway for visibly indicating three different speed conditions,means adjacent each signal mechanism for imposing high-frequency currentupon the rails at points where the signal for minimum speed conditionsis visiquency bis, means for causing such imposing of high-frequencycurrent when an adjacent current imposing means becomes inoperative, andmeans on a vehicle on-the track tuned to respond to the wave lengths of.said imposed current.

the signal mechanism or the transforming mechanism of the block inadvance is inop erative.

4. In a railway train control system, a series of successive blocksections, signal mechanism for each section embodying a battery andthree signal lamps and circuits between the battery and the lamps, apolarneutral relay controlled by current from the block in. advance toselect the circuit to the proper signal lamp according to the occupancyof the track in advance and also controlling the signal mechanism of thetrack sections in the rear, means for transforming the battery currentinto high-frecurrent of predetermined wave length and imposing the sameon the track rails, means controlled by said polar-neutral relay tocause the operation of said transformer, and a relay energized by saidtransformer for closing the circuit from the battery to thepolar-neutral relay of the next installation in the rear.

5. In a railway train control system, a series of successive blocksections, a signal installation for each section embodying a pluralityof lamps, a signal battery and a circuit from each lamp to the battery,a polar-neutral relay controlled by currents from the block in advanceand adapted to select the proper lamp circuit according to the occupancyof the t ad; in advance, bat teries connected to the track at adistanceto the rear from each signal installation and track relays energizedthereby and located adjacent the signal installations, armatures for thetrack relays to open and close the circuits to said lamps, means totransform signal battery current into highfrequency current ofpredetermined wave length, a circuit for the transformer adapted to beopened and closed by the track re-' lay and by the polar-neutral relay,circuits connecting the transformer to the rails and embodying a thirdrelay, a circuit between the battery and the polar-neutral relay of tilthe next station in the rear, said circuit bemg closed and opened bysaid third relay as that is energized or tie-energized, and a ing arelief valve adapted to be moved to open position to cause the brakes tobe set, means operated by compressed air to open said valve, a controlvalve and electro magnet-ic means to normally hold it closed to preventthe connpressed air to open the relief valve, a battery and a circuitbetween the battery and the electro n'iagnetic means, a relay to'holdthis circuit closed, a normally closed circuitbetween the battery andsaid relay, a second relay to open the circuit to the first, a collectorcoil and a circuit therefor to pick up high-frequency current from thetrack rails, means to tune the collector coil and its circuit to thewave length of the current in the track rails, and means to transformthe collected current into proper current to affect the second relay.

7. In a railway train control system, the combination of an air brakesystem embodying a relief valve adapted to be moved to open position tocause the brakes to be set, means operated by compressed air to opensaid valve, a control valve and electro-magnetic -means to normally holdit closed to prevent the compressed air to open the relief valve, abattery and a circuit between the ing a thermo-jmiction heater currentrectitier.

8. In a railway train control system com-- prising signal mechanismalong the trackway for visibly indicating three different speedconditions, .11 vans adjacent each signal mecl'ianism for imposinghigh-frequency current upon the rails at points Where the goal foreither minimum or intermediate speed conditions is visible, means forcausii'ig such imposing of high-frequency current when an adjacentcurrent imposing means becomes inoperative, and means on a vehicle onthe track tuned to respond to the wave tion of current by a controlmechanism when its block and either the next or second block in advanceare occupied and to prevent such imposition when the two blocks inadvance are unoccupied.

THOMAS E. CLARK. JAMES E. CLARK.

